Matthew  6:7-8  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”

When you pray do you pray expecting God to hear you or are you just going through the motions hoping that one day somehow at random God will decide to listen?  We are told in Hebrews 4:16 “to come boldly before the throne of grace.”  We need to be able to go to God in the confidence that He cares for us just like a really good parent cares for their children.  God is looking for someone to bless today, why not you?

I know that in the past I have prayed over and over somehow thinking that if I said it enough times somehow I would break through some barrier that I had imagined was between God and my prayers.  How silly.  God is not hard of hearing and He isn’t short on caring about you!  He loves you and wants to love on you!

Too often I know I have even allowed myself to believe that if I messed up yesterday even though I am working so hard at trying to become all I can be for God by following Him that His grace was slow to work and it would take days for things to be right between us again!  Where do we come up with those ideas?  They are lies from Hell to keep us from being all we can be!  Don’t minimize what Jesus did by behaving as though we are able to add to it and somehow make ourselves more acceptable in God’s sight by our behavior!  You can work for a long time but until you accept that Jesus is all there is to God’s acceptance you are missing out!  I am not condoning living however you please and expecting God’s grace to just cover a bad attitude and lifestyle, you know that I am saying that these things apply when your hearts desire is to be right with God.  So often though when we are doing our best to love and serve God, Satan’s greatest tool is to keep us down thinking that God’s grace and the blood of Jesus isn’t enough because we should have to somehow perform perfectly.  We will not be perfect until we get to heaven.  My children do things wrong but they are still my children and nothing will ever change that or my love for them, how much more does God’s love and grace cover us?

With all of that in mind, what is your prayer today?  God knows your needs before you even mention them so go in the confidence that you don’t have to say it over and over and if you are lacking in faith then pray and ask Him to make up for the faith you lack.  Understand as well that God always has your best interest at heart so if He says “no” then it is because He knows there is a better way and better answer because He can see the whole picture.  Trust Him to know what is best.

Quote:

“You can’t have rosy thoughts about the future when your mind is full of blues about the past.”  -Tidbits